New York: When the verdict was read out, Sean “Diddy” Combs clasped his hands together in a prayer motion, as if thanking God, looked to the jury and hugged his lawyer. Later, as the court was adjourned, he got down on his knees, rested his hands and face on his chair, and appeared to pray.
“I’ll be home soon,” the music mogul later told his family as he left the New York courtroom that has been his daytime home for the past eight weeks. “I love you,” he told his mother, Janice.
In this courtroom sketch, Sean “Diddy” Combs reacts after he was convicted of prostitution-related offences but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life. Credit: AP/Elizabeth Williams
After a long and headline-grabbing trial, Combs, 55, was found guilty of two counts of a prostitution-related offence, but acquitted on the remaining three charges: sex trafficking and racketeering.
The latter, which carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, was the big prize eyed by prosecutors, who had alleged the hip-hop mogul used his vast business empire and staff to engage in a criminal conspiracy involving sex trafficking, drug distribution and attempts to cover up their behaviour.
But the jury of eight men and four women decided those allegations were not proven. Rather, they convicted Combs on the two
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